The International Olympic Committee said yesterday that certain results from figure skating at the Salt Lake Winter Games could be cancelled if it was found they had been fixed, raising concerns about the possible involvement of organised crime in international sport.

US investigators are due to begin extradition proceedings next week against Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, an Uzbek national who was arrested on Wednesday in Italy following a five-month investigation by the FBI into claims that he fixed the outcome of the pairs and ice dancing competitions at the Salt Lake City games by bribing judges.

The arrest and allegations against Tokhtakhounov have not only called into question the credibility of international skating but have also plunged the IOC into an embarrassing scandal just as it was repairing its damaged reputation following claims of bribery in the way it is administered and decides on host cities.

FBI investigators allege that Tokhtakhounov together with "unnamed conspirators" arranged for a French judge to vote for the Russian pairs figure skating team of Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze. In return, he promised to ensure that a Russian judge voted for the French team in the ice dancing contest.

The gold medal in the pairs figure skating was given to Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze by five votes to four. The pair made a technical error and their performance was bettered by Jamie Sale and David Pelletier of Canada.

Serious question marks were raised over the judging and following the outcry, the IOC took the unprecedented step of awarding gold to both the Russians and the Canadians. The ice dancing gold medal went to the French team of Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat.

The French judge, Marie-Reine Le Gougne, said she had been pressured to vote for the Russians, though she later withdrew the claim. She and the head of French skating, Didier Gailhaguet, were banned from the sport for three years.

It is alleged that Tokhtakhounov, 53, had close contact with five or six judges at the games. The international sporting community has been shocked by claims that Tokhtakhounov is involved in organised crime such as drug running and money laundering and that several other members of the Russian mafia were also involved in the fixing of results.

Tokhtakhounov allegedly stood to gain financially by placing bets on the competition and was also, it is claimed, attempting to win favour with French officials to help him renew his visa for the country.

Tokhtakhounov has been charged with conspiracy to commit bribery and wire fraud at sporting events. He could face up to five years in prison and a £160,000 fine on each charge. FBI investigators are also examining whether there was an attempt to fix other events at the Salt Lake games.

The IOC president Jacques Rogge is to meet with Ottavio Cinquanta, president of the International Skating Union (ISU) next week to discuss the affair with both parties promising to work closely with the FBI to weed out corruption.

Rogge, who was elected on a mandate of fighting corruption within the IOC said: "While we knew from previous investigations that the judgment in the pairs figure skating was not correct we are shocked to learn of the alleged involvement of organised crime. I have asked our ethics commission to start an inquiry. We are totally committed."

Thomas Bach, head of the IOC's disciplinary committee said yesterday that if it was proven by US investigators that Tokhtakhounov had fixed results then the organisation would cancel the Olympic results of the affected competition and ask for medals to be returned. Bach said that greater cooperation was needed between the legal authorities and the sporting community to prevent organised crime from infiltrating skating and international sport as a whole. He added: "But sports cannot do this alone. Politics must help too. The sport's [skating] credibility and its existence is in question."

The investigation into the Salt Lake Games has also prompted calls for skating to be suspended from the Olympics until all suspicion from the sport is removed. But Rogge has ruled this out, saying: "We can't penalise the athletes for the wrongdoing of officials. You don't throw the baby out with the bathwater."

Cinquanta has proposed some changes to the judging of international skating events. Instead of nine judges, there will be 14, with nine scores randomly selected by a com puter in an attempt to discourage collusion. This, however, has failed to satisfy many in the skating community and the IOC who are nervously waiting to see what further damaging evidence US investigators will uncover.